The Nation Had Been Flirting With Forms Of Gotterdammerung, With Extremes of Vocabulary and Behavior And A Appetite For Violent Resolutions,

Marc Bijl, Courtenay Smith and Brett Bloom,

Marc Bijl’s first solo presentation in The Netherlands.is the third in a series of four presentations of artists who operate with a strong sense of political and social commitment, and challenge the tenability of ideologies. In 2003, Casco exhibited projects by Rainer Ganahl and Tarik Sadouma. Ibon Aranberri will conclude the series in 2004. In Casco, Marc Bijl (Leerdam, 1970) will be revealing a self-portrait in the shape of an equestrian statue. The monumental sculpture is a reminder of student demonstrations against budget cuts in the early 1990s. During the protests – which got out of hand - Bijl was mistakenly arrested for public disorder and violence. The equestrian statue is the synthesis of the fear and excitement Bijl felt at the time and the powerful seductive image of the mounted police. His images are fed by the language of protest. He prefers subversive expressions and subcultural imagery. But simultaneously Bijl deconstructs this language. He shows how contradictions in society are also part of himself. The work uncovers the fine line between superficiality and profundity. ‘Politics is fiction, art is real’, says Bijl. At the time of the student protests, Bijl was the bass player in the band Götterdämmerung. Especially for this Casco project, the band went back to the studio to record a ‘best of’ picture disk. The album will be released in a limited edition of 500, including a booklet which examines what is left of the ideals of Bijl’s contemporaries.